New on DVD: Mission Impossible 4, Shame

The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name. In theatres December 21, 2011.

Photograph by: Paramount

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Rating: 3 out of 5

Proving Tom Cruise can make even high-tech dishwashing gloves feel thrilling, this latest Mission Impossible outing certainly lives up to its billing. A fast-paced spy thriller that follows action formula with all the precision of a satellite-assisted assault, MI: 4 features a super-coiffed Cruise back in the role of Ethan Hunt, a respected operative who’s recently been booted from the service. After a foiled attack on the Kremlin, Hunt is fingered as the rogue, forcing him into hiding in the hopes of clearing his sterling reputation. What follows is all standard spy fare, from big-budget stunts set in exotic locales to sexy scenes with eye-candy femmes.

All that’s missing is the emaciated model wearing a couture trash bag, a half-naked man draped over a vintage motorbike, and a python, because everything else about Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol feels like a Eurotrash fashion spread. The biggest surprise is that this is not a bad thing, as long as you find fancy-pants Cruise fetching in his designer clothes, and convincing enough to play a believable alpha male opposite Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton. Special features include Mission Accepted: Heating Up in Dubai and Vancouver, deleted scenes, alternative opening, commentary from Brad Bird, Dolby. KM

Shame

Rating: 4 out of 5

Michael Fassbender sucks us into the vortex of sexual addiction in this hard-edged study of dysfunction from art-house sensation Steve McQueen (Hunger). Opening with a memorable scene in a New York subway, we watch Fassbender play a good-looking urbanite who can pick up women just about anywhere. An upwardly mobile professional respected by his colleagues, Fassbender’s character is living a double life — forcing the viewer into a complicit stance, as we watch him lie to the people around him.

We should dislike this character: He sucks the life from others in order to satiate his endless, sick desire, but, thanks to a standout performance from Fassbender, as well as the supporting cast, led by Carey Mulligan, we can’t help but pity this poor, emotionally bankrupt man, because he may be having plenty of sex, but he is profoundly broken, and afraid of real love. KM

Late Spring

Rating: 4 out of 5

This classic from Yasujiro Ozu tells the story of a young woman who dotes on her aging father with an almost disturbing obsession. When the old man feels his daughter will miss out on the most important part of life, and finding a love of her own, he conceives a rather twisted ruse in order to get her to the altar. A pensive and poetic film, the central drama is constructed from images rather than specific scenes, which makes for a slow pace. Thanks to this new, Blu-ray, high-definition transfer, all the subtleties of Ozu’s frames are finally translated to the small screen. KM

Man on the Train

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ever wanted to see U2 band member Larry Mullen Jr. act? No? Then you may want to give this remake of a 2002 French thriller a miss, since Mullen’s performance as “the thief” is pretty much the central reason to pull this reel off the rental shelf. Not that there isn’t anything inherently interesting about this recycled plot about two men who find themselves at opposite ends of the moral spectrum: Donald Sutherland plays the “good” man and Mullen plays the foil. The two meet by accident, but soon find they have an interesting dynamic: Because the acting from Sutherland is stellar, and Mullen proves he’s got enough thespian chops to keep the dramatic beats, this Canadian co-production chugs forward without derailing. KM

Frozen Planet

Rating: 4 out of 5

The people at BBC Earth have usurped Disney, Discovery and noted IMAX producers as the leading source of first-rate wildlife footage, which means this new collection of natural wonder will have any animal lover rapt. Focused on the great thaw turning the Arctic and Antarctic landscapes into slush, filmmaker Alastair Fothergill gives the viewer endless sumptuous scenery to ponder, as we’re introduced to a host of relatively unknown species. From a penguin with a pop-star name to the wandering albatross, the film finds characters that make us care about the continued survival of a given animal, but it leaves the nasty parts of climate change to the imagination, as we’re left to ponder the stunning beauty that’s melting away by the second. KM

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